


Ruff Winter Weather

by AuroraKant



Series: Winter Whumperland [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Damian Wants A Dog, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Batman, Dick Grayson is Damian Wayne’s Parent, Escape in the Snow, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Damian Wayne, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hypothermia, Protective Dick Grayson, They love each other so much, Will He Get One? Read To Find Out, at least for me, this is pretty soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraKant/pseuds/AuroraKant
Summary: “Of course, I am alright, Batman. Stop your senseless blabbering.”Dick hated the fact that he couldn’t see Damian. He wanted to turn around and look the boy over, he wanted to check every possible spot on Robin’s costumes for wear and tear. But Damian was firmly clinging to Dick’s back, his tiny arms slung around Batman’s neck.And they couldn’t stop.Or: After Batman and Robin escaped Mr. Freeze's icy clutches, they are running for their life in the needlessly snowy woods behind Bristol. Standard family bonding, right?
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: Winter Whumperland [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053023
Comments: 10
Kudos: 174





	Ruff Winter Weather

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to day 3!!! Hot Damn!  
> Or cold damn... more likely...  
> The prompt for today is "Escape in the snow" and you shall get just that! With a heavy side of Dick is Damian's dad! Because I am me!!
> 
> Comments, Kudos and Bookmarks are greatly appreciated!! <3<3

“Are you okay?“

Dick was well aware of the fact that he had asked the same question five times already. Well, considering the situation they were in, nobody could blame him.

Damian was frighteningly still, and Dick was tempted to ask again, when a soft voice reached his ear:

“Of course, I am alright, Batman. Stop your senseless blabbering.”

Dick hated the fact that he couldn’t see Damian. He wanted to turn around and look the boy over, he wanted to check every possible spot on Robin’s costumes for wear and tear. But Damian was firmly clinging to Dick’s back, his tiny arms slung around Batman’s neck.

And they couldn’t stop.

The moment Dick stopped to set Damian down, to check him over, their pursuers would catch up with them. It was bad enough that they were leaving a trail, neither of them strong enough to hide the tracks in the snow. The branch Damian had tied to his utility belt did little to obscure their footprints – the snow was simply too deep for that. Too heavy.

“All right, Mr. Robin, sir. I shall shut up then!”

Dick was well aware of the fact that levity didn’t really translate well while he was wearing that cursed Bat-suit, but he needed to do something. For himself just as much as for Damian.

They were stranded somewhere in the woods behind Bristol, ice and snow making the territory dangerous, their enemies making it deadly. Damian was hurt, Dick was exhausted… and they had no means to contact Alfred in the Bunker. They were on their own until Dick managed to get them out of range of the interference signal their enemies were using to keep them trapped.

It would be easier if ice wasn’t encasing his lungs – not that Dick allowed himself such weakness. He had to be strong. For Damian. For Robin.

Mr. Freeze had been behaving suspicious for a while now, but Dick hadn’t expected an operation of this magnitude when he and Damian set out to put an end to the nefarious happenings earlier this evening. He had expected a warehouse full of illegal goods and maybe half a dozen goons – that’s what Batman’s intel had promised him, his own experience backing the assumption up.

Instead, Batman and Robin had stumbled into a giant drug trafficking mess, with thirty goons, all of them equipped with freeze-ray guns.

Dick had managed to knock half of them out, Damian busy as well, when Mr. Freeze himself showed up. It had taken one lucky shot from the dispassionate scientist, and Dick… Dick had been left scrambling.

Damian’s pained scream was still haunting his mind, the sound curdling his blood.

After Robin fell, Dick had acted on instinct, grabbing the boy and leaving the warehouse behind. The operation was forgotten, the mission a faint echo, all that had mattered – still mattered – was Robin’s safety.

Well… Dick had managed to get them out of the building and into the forest. Into the snowy and cold outside world.

Which was where they still were, since Dick hadn’t noticed when the comms stopped working.

Damian was frighteningly silent on Dick’s back, a pang of worry hitting Dick whenever he accidentally jostled the boy and heard no response. The terrain was harsh, and the snow… Dick hadn’t worn his snow suit. He was in his normal Batman winter uniform.

Which meant exactly two things: It was better insulated than the summer one, and it was in no way suited for the freezing realities of the forest surrounding them.

That should have been the first warning sign.

It hadn’t snowed in Gotham yet, and, of course, Dick had noticed the amounts of snow accumulating around Mr. Freeze’s base. That’s how they found him after all. And yet… and yet Dick hadn’t worn his snow suit.

He was freezing. His toes were so cold, Dick could no longer feel them, and his legs were tingling from the wet seeping into his pants. But he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t allow himself to break down. He… Damian depended on him. Damian needed him.

“Hey, Robin… are you okay?”

“I am… fine, Batman.”

Damian’s voice was smaller than it had been minutes before, and another wave of worry crashed down on Dick. The freeze ray had hit Damian’s cape, sending the boy slamming into a wall. Dick wasn’t sure of the extent of his injuries – couldn’t be sure, really, not without Alfred and an MRI – but a concussion was plausible. A concussion and slight to medium freezer burn along his back.

They had to hurry.

Children got hypothermia faster than adults did, and Dick could already feel himself sway. It wouldn’t be long before Dick was too cold to run any further, and Damian didn’t have that much time.

“How about you tell me about your friends at school, Robin? You’ve been rather tightlipped about them during dinner…”

Keep Damian talking.

Dick couldn’t turn around, couldn’t stop and check over the boy himself, but he could keep him talking. He could make sure that Damian was still awake, still coherent, still alive. It was for the boy’s sake, Dick told himself, even if he was well aware of the fact that that was a lie.

It was Dick who needed a reason to keep on running.

It was Batman who needed hope so he could save Robin.

Life was as simple as that.

“Pah… _friends_ you call them. Heathens. Peasants. Co-Colin… he drew me a dog. It was an inferior drawing, of course.”

“ _Of course_.”

There was a smile in Dick’s voice, and he hoped Damian heard it as well.

It had surprised Dick the first time Damian told him about his day during dinner and Dick felt content. The domesticity of it all had come out of nowhere – and Dick’s comfort had come as a surprise.

Even now, surrounded by ice and the possibility of death, Dick couldn’t help himself: He enjoyed their shared moment of light and softness. He enjoyed listening to Damian talk.

 _His boy_.

What a forbidden thought that was.

Damian was Bruce’s boy, even if Bruce was dead. Dick was just- Dick was just Damian’s guardian. Damian’s big brother. His Batman – not his dad.

“It was… big and fluffy. It looked friendly. I’ve never had a dog before.”

“I had…”

Dick’s voice trailed off, when a broken tree trunk forced him to concentrate. Climbing was hard enough with the added weight of Damian pressing down on him, but the snow made it so much harder. There was no maneuverability, and Dick was deadly afraid of slipping and falling.

He wasn’t sure if he would be strong enough to stand back up again.

The snow looked almost comfortable, the early morning light catching in the ice crystals making it look like a cushion. A comfy cushion after a long night fighting crime.

“You had? I didn’t know that…”

Damian’s breathless voice forced Dick back into the present, back into the here and now.

He slid down on the other side of the trunk, his boots hitting the snow with a low crunch. Dick hadn’t heard their pursuers in some time now, but with the trail they left, they still couldn’t allow themselves to stop and breathe.

“Back when I was your age… Bruce got us a guard dog, Ace… I am sure, he only did it because he thought I was lonely, and the whole guard dog story was a farce… but I loved Ace. He was a good boy.”

“What…” – Damian’s breath was a soft puff of air against Dick’s neck – “What happened to him?”

“He grew old, and one day, while I was on a mission with the Titans, he died. I was very sad for a while – but I am sure he is happy now, wherever he is. Probably chasing squirrels and eating dirt.”

Damian made a contemplative noise, as Dick spoke.

For once Damian sounded his age. Young and impressionable, instead of arrogant and lonely. With each day Dick was allowed to know Damian, he wished he could protect the boy from the horrors of his past. A corner of his heart had been reserved only for Damian, filling with more love and affection each day, and Dick had grown fiercely protective of his little brother. His son. His kid.

Had Bruce felt like this?

Had Bruce’s heart torn itself apart thinking about the possibilities of the two of them becoming a family?

Had Bruce suffered like this whenever Dick told him that he was not his dad? Because Dick’s heart broke whenever Damian called himself the Blood Son, not looking Dick in the eyes.

Unspoken words, whispered secrets, and promises too painful to speak them aloud.

“I want a dog.”

“What?”

“I want a dog. Like Ace. Or like the dog Colin drew for me.”

There was not even an ounce of Robin left in Damian’s voice. Instead, his tone was full of childish petulance.

Dick almost wanted to laugh. Maybe he did. Puffs of air danced through the air in front of him, ice burning his lips and cheeks.

“I am not sure if now is the time to talk about possible dog ownership, Robin.”

Dick made sure to make his reprimand free of judgement, free of anger. He probably sounded amused, and Dick really hoped that this was not another faux pas. That Damian understood what Dick wanted to say, without feeling wronged.

Sometimes their relationship was like a dance, the two of them understanding each other like only ever Batman and Robin could. Other times their dance was a spar, and their words were weapons, clashing and fighting and hurting until they drew blood. And right now? Right now, it was a riddle, each step dangerous, each word weighted and calculated.

Dick liked it when Damian was a child. He liked the ten-year-old hidden behind anger and fear and respect. But he also understood why Damian saw himself as something different from a child – and he understood why the boy hid his more childish interests.

It was a balancing act.

But Dick had had a few months to perfect it.

“If father… if Bruce gave you a dog, then it is only fair that I also get a dog from _my_ Batman.”

They were mixing names and identities, truths and wishes, and yet Dick couldn’t get himself to tell Damian to stop. The boy was talking. The boy was alive.

It didn’t matter that snow was making it harder and harder to walk, it didn’t matter that the word was swimming in and out of focus… all that mattered was Damian. All that mattered was that the boy stayed alive. And well. And talking. 

“Well, I guess you’ll have to ask Agent A for permission then, squirt. Nothing in this household happens without his stamp of approval.”

“Did father ask Agent A back then?”

“I-“

Dick recalled that day so many years ago. He could still see the mischief glinting in Bruce’s eyes, the laughter as Dick fell on his ass when the puppy jumped out of the box Bruce had carried it in… he could also remember the anger coloring Alfred’s mouth, and how cautious Bruce had acted around the butler for the following weeks.

God, all of them had been so much younger back then. All of them had been so much more alive.

“I don’t think so, no… he didn’t. But Agent A was pissed!”

“Well, if father dared to stand up to Agent A, I don’t see how you could be cowered by the promise of a miffed Pennyworth. You can go behind his back, I believe in you, Rich- Batman.”

“Don’t you dare try and trick me into buying you a dog.”

Laughter tore itself from Dick, the action painful and freeing at once. His throat hurt, his legs burned, but Dick was alive – and Damian was talking.

Dick climbed over another fallen tree, his feet sinking deep into the snow on the other side, and continued his hike. Damian was heavy for a kid, but he was a burden Dick would happily carry to the end of the world. Just right now… it was a weight pulling him down.

The sun was starting to rise, the sky cloudless, the snow a glittering masterpiece of cold death. The trees looked painted in white, the air so clear Dick couldn’t even taste remnants of Gotham on the back of his tongue.

It would be beautiful, if Dick didn’t have to fear for their lives.

Had they run far enough? Had they managed to escape? Was the enemy still on their trail?

Dick didn’t know what the answer was.

“Hey, Robin… are you okay?”

“Hn…”

“Robin?”

Damian sounded far away, and worry ignited itself in Dick’s chest. During all their banter had Damian’s voice wavered? _Yes_. Probably. Dick wasn’t sure… how could he not have noticed?

Fear burned his veins, and yet even the adrenaline was unable to melt the ice encasing him.

“Robin? Damian? Talk to me!”

“C-Cold… it is… rather cold, Richard.”

“Yes- Yes, it is. I am here. Soon… Soon, we’ll be outta here and then… and then we’ll get hot chocolate and a warm bed. _Soon_ …”

“Hm…”

Dick almost stumbled over a rock hidden by all the snow, and he cursed his bad luck when the movement jostled Damian. And yet… the boy barely reacted, just another puff of air touching Dick’s cheek.

“Hold on, Dames. We are almost there… _almost_.”

Dick wasn’t sure if that was a lie or the truth, but it was everything he had.

Damian didn’t answer. He was still breathing, still alive, but he didn’t answer.

“I’m… I am going to buy you that dog, just you wait. But you have to be awake for that, yeah? I need you to be awake so I can buy you a dog. A big fluffy one… maybe even a small cute one! What do you think, Dames? Would you like one?”

Dick sounded hysterical and he knew it.

“Hah… knew I would… I would… get ya-“

Damian’s voice was the husk of a sound, his breath short gasps of desperate warmth. He fell silent shortly after and Dick… had he dreamt this short moment of reprise? Had Damian really spoken? Or was Dick’s mind just that desperate to hear Damian’s voice?

“Dames? Damian? Robin?”

No answer.

Damian didn’t answer anymore no matter what Dick did. _He tried_. He told him about the dog they were going to get. He asked Dames after a name. He told a joke and called him his son, but Damian stayed silent.

Too many beats of silence passed by, and Dick knew they would have to continue in their track. He knew there was only one way to escape this hell, and that was walking.

(Never stopping, always pressing forward.)

Just as he knew that the dampness underneath the cowl didn’t come from the sweat collecting on his forehead but from his tears. He was well aware of his mental state – and his heart was breaking out of fear.

He was cold, freezing, his legs aching and numb, and yet his frantic heartbeat was the most painful thing Dick had ever experienced. Because his heart was aching for Damian, his soul screaming out of worry for his kid.

For too long the only sound was his own breathing combined with the crunch of snow. A few birds were singing their forlorn song, but Dick couldn’t concentrate on that. He was a single-minded machine. One foot in front of the other. One step after the other. 

It was so cold, and Dick feared that he would never reach civilization, that he would never reach that magical point where his comms came back to life.

It was hard to hope for rescue with a boy silent on his back, with a life tied to his, while he was only longing for a bed.

He was tired – the sun in the sky telling him that he had stayed away for far too long. The cold was seeping away what was left of his energy. Dick was… he was wary, and that made it hard to focus, hard to soldier on.

Damian needed him, and for his boy Dick would continue. He would always move forward for Damian. He would always carry on.

But sometimes the universe didn’t care about what Dick would do – instead, it made him stumble, made him crumble into the snow.

Ice hit his cheeks as Dick faceplanted next to a tree, the snow cushioning his fall while stealing the last bit of warmth Dick had left. Freezing water penetrated Dick’s costume, and a soft sigh escaped him when sleep called out for him once more.

 _No_.

He couldn’t…

Damian…

 **Damian**!

Dick moved as much as he could, one hand finding the boy laying on top of him. At least Damian was out of the snow. At least Robin wasn’t bathed in any more cold. Now… Dick only had to get up. He had to continue. He had to guide them to safety…

No matter how much Dick pushed and pulled, his body wouldn’t move. The cold had seeped in too deep. He was freezing. He was tired. He couldn’t… but he had promised Damian that dog. He had to get up, keep his promise! He had…

The tears spilling from his eyes were the only warmth Dick had left to give, and they burned when they touched his skin. Shame and pain were burning embers, slowly expiring as even they got carried away by the exhaustion.

 _Fuck_.

The universe might have made him trip, but life wasn’t done with Dick just yet – maybe Gotham simply didn’t want to lose another Batman, another Robin – maybe someone was looking out for them. It didn’t matter what had happened, who was granting them this, the only thing that mattered was the crackling voice coming to life in Dick’s right ear:

“Agent A to Batman” – crrk – “Agent A to Batman, please answer” – crrk – “Agent A-“

“Alfred…”

A voice had never sounded sweeter. A voice had never carried more hope. More light. More warmth.

“Batman? What is your status?”

“Help… track… track our location. Hurry. Robin- Robin needs help.”

“And by the sound of it, you do as well. But don’t worry, Batman – I will be there in a moment, homing in on your location now.”

“Th-Thank you… hurry… promised Da-Dami a dog. Gotta keep that prom-is…”

It was so hard to talk, and yet it felt so important. It was important to hold on, to talk, to believe in hope.

“Of course, you did. And I will reach both of you in time for you to properly explain it to me.”

Dick let himself smile. It was the least he could do while he awaited rescue.

They would be alright. They would be fine.

Damian was going to get that dog.


End file.
